The Construction Worker, The Cleaning Lady and The Garbage Man: Exaggerated clichees? According to the U.S. Department of Labor, compared with "Whites", "Blacks" are twice as likely to be unemployed. Studies conducted by the Fair Employment Council show that Black applicants are treated less favourably (Harrison & Thomas, 2009). In the U.S., immigrants with the lightest skin colour earn on average 17% more than those with the darkest skin colour. In fact, moving from the 10th percentile to the 90th of the skin colour distribution reduces wages by about 8% (Hersch, 2008). An examination of the U.S. Latino population shows that those who describe themselves as White on Census 2000 have more economic power and the highest incomes although Black Hispanics are better-educated (via). In Brazil, Afro-Brazilians are paid on average 40% less than "White" Brazilians (via). These are a few examples, the list could be continued most easily. And it is not just the professional life that is dictated by skin tone. According to a study by Viglione et al. (2011), Black women with lighter skin tone receive more lenient prison sentences and serve less time in prison than those with darker skin tone (via).

About Me

This weblog is about diversity and inclusion. It is not about "managing" diversity and "coping mechanisms" at the workplace only but about different aspects of diversity (all dimensions, i.e., age, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, disability) in art, marketing, music, sports, health, literature, urban planning, language, etc. We encounter diversity and attitudes to it everywhere in society. Limiting discussions and good practices to aspects related to the workplace may be, well, too limiting.

I have been working in the fields of diversity and human resources for many years. I also work as a university lecturer at the Department of Business Education and Development, University of Graz, Austria.

One project we are currently working on is "Graz. The Inclusive City." It is about raising awareness for how to turn a city into an inclusive city and collecting ideas. The weblog is in English (mostly) and German (sometimes, in fact, whenever postings refer to the city of Graz). If you are interested:

Please note

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If you find any content here that belongs to you and you want it down or has not been properly attributed, please contact: laura[AT]moazedi[DOT]org